Siena basketball must deal with surprising backcourt

Saints focus on Quinnipiac guards in MAAC first round

Quinnipiac guard Cameron Young, shown playing against former Siena guard Nico Clareth in January, is averaging 18.9 points per game this season. (Hans Pennink/Special to the Times Union)

Quinnipiac guard Cameron Young, shown playing against former Siena guard Nico Clareth in January, is averaging 18.9 points per game this season. (Hans Pennink/Special to the Times Union)

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Quinnipiac guard Cameron Young, shown playing against former Siena guard Nico Clareth in January, is averaging 18.9 points per game this season. (Hans Pennink/Special to the Times Union)

Quinnipiac guard Cameron Young, shown playing against former Siena guard Nico Clareth in January, is averaging 18.9 points per game this season. (Hans Pennink/Special to the Times Union)

Siena basketball must deal with surprising backcourt

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Loudonville

Siena men's basketball coach Jimmy Patsos didn't even know who Cameron Young was last year. He said Rich Kelly, just on appearance, might not be chosen for a pickup game.

But that Quinnipiac backcourt is a major concern for the Saints in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament first-round game on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Times Union Center.

Young, a 6-foot-6 senior guard from Los Angeles, played a total of eight minutes as a junior under former head coach Tom Moore. He's blossomed in his final year under new coach Baker Dunleavy. He's averaging 18.9 points per game, which ranks fourth in the MAAC. He was named second-team all-league on Monday.

"I didn't know his name last year and I voted him first-team all-league and he got second,' Patsos said before today's practice. "I've never seen anybody improve that much from an unknown going into his senior year. I've seen freshmen improve to sophomore year, but to be an unknown ... I pointed out to our younger players that Cameron Young should be an inspiration. He decided he wanted a chance to play and he worked really hard. I know the coaches there. He worked really hard over the summer and improved his game."

Kelly, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Shelton, Conn,, made the MAAC All-Rookie team as a unanimous selection. He's fifth among MAAC freshmen at 10.9 points per game and is fifth overall in assists at 4.8 per contest.

"Kelly looks like a guy you wouldn't even pick for pickup,'' Patsos said during his weekly appearance on 104.5 FM this morning. "The guy's an assassin. He quietly just goes about his business. Great player."

Patsos said Siena redshirt junior guard Kadeem Smithen will get the assignment on Kelly, while an assortment of players will be tried to defend Young.

First, though, Oduro reflected upon being named to the MAAC All-Rookie team on Monday. He's averaging 9.2 points, leading all of Siena's active players, and a team-high 5.1 rebounds per game.

"You don't realy think about those things, but when you win an award like that, you know you're on the right track,'' Oduro said. "I thought my season was a little up and down, but winning that gave me a little more confidence going into the tournament."

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It appears junior forward Evan Fisher will be back in the starting lineup against Quinnipiac. He came off the bench for only the fourth time in 31 games in Sunday's season-ending loss to Saint Peter's.

Patsos said he did that to match up better with a small lineup, but also because he sensed some frustration from Fisher.

It was the 19th starting lineup Jimmy Patsos used this season, the most in the nation.

Asked if Fisher would come off the bench again, Patsos said, "No. I don't want to give away my starting lineups, but I just looked at the body of work. We talked about this yesterday. Here's the body of work, and now I'm judging based on that who should play. I know I've had a lot of different starting lineups. That's totally irrelevant to me. It's who's on the court the last five minutes, and some of those things that haven't gone right in the last five minutes have also been evaluated."